WHERE OH WHERE HAS NANA BEEN? OH WHERE OR WHERE CAN SHE BE?

What a whirlwind the last few weeks

have been!

As most of you know,

my grandgirl, Alana, 

was accepted into the 

DISNEY COLLEGE PROGRAM.

Many of you watched her grow up on my blog as

LITTLE LULU.

I have a timeshare in Florida

about an hour from Disney.

I left a week early to spend some time

with her before she starts the program.

As most of you know,

once they enter an away-at-school program

they never really ''come home" again.

We had a wonderful few days hanging out

at a resort on the ocean.

Her mom, my daughter, Tara,

joined us for the last two days 

before we headed to Orlando.

What a wonderful, wonderful experience.

The three of us spent 2 days in 

The Magic Kingdom and Epcot.

We ate our way though Epcot

and enjoyed all the rides in both places.

Then we helped Alana move into her new apartment

right on Disney property.

They are state-of-the-art apartments

and beautiful.  

The campus is like a resort.

Alana will be working in 

THE MAGIC KINGDOM  in FRONTIERLAND.

Her first day is tomorrow and she is really excited.

The unexpected bonus was a wonderful roommate

They connected and 

have spent lots of time hanging out.

As we know, that kind of connection 

doesn't always happen.

I was gone for two weeks and my 

son and his wonderful wife & Carlisle took care of

SCRUFFY 

for me and kept tabs on John while I was gone.

Scruffy after his initial 

WELCOME HOME NANA

punished me for two days by ignoring me. 

LOL- Now he is back to his usual

nose on my leg-where are you going demeanor.

I just got home and turned around to go to a 

VERY SPECIAL PARTY in Chicago

but I will let another blogger share that first.

Thanks for bearing with me. 

I hope to be a better blogger 

during the next few months.

 

MY BEAUTIFUL LULU AND HER SENIOR PICTURES

She was the

SWEETEST BABY-

Quiet, thoughtful

& loving.

So, it is no surprise

she stayed the same way.

This beautiful young woman

is a senior this year

and goes off to school next year.

I will miss her dearly.

There are lots more pictures

but this is all I have for now.

Isn't she a beauty?

INSIDE and OUT!

AND

to make it even better---

she is a barista at 

STARBUCKS!

A cup served with lots of love!!!!

If you want to see a progression 

over the years of her growing up

you can

CLICK HERE!

Have a great week!!!!

FROM PRINCESS TO BARISTA~

Life is 

NOT A FAIRY TALE.

No, indeedy!

My beautiful princess,

ALANA (aka Lulu)

went from
THIS

to
THIS!

I think she is the 

cutest barista ever!
She knows that hard work pays off!
She is a 2nd generation barista-
following in her Auntie Mimi's footsteps.

She could have gone 
for the
glass slippers

source
Instead of the 
TENNIS SHOES WITH RHINESTONES~

But this girl knows that there is 
more to life than being pretty.
She's a grand girl with a kind heart
and as pretty inside as outside.

Can you BELIEVE she is working at

Neither can I!!!
Maybe I will get a free drink...
ummm--probably not!

Have a wonderful week
and upcoming
FOURTH OF JULY!!!!

A VALENTINE'S DAY TUTORIAL TO MAKING VALENTINES--A BLAST FROM THE PAST

With Valentine's Day coming up

I thought it would be fun

 (kinda like poking my eye out

with a stick)

to craft a few Valentines

with my grandgirls when they 

were little.

This, of course, involved

GLUE & GLITTER,

the bane of my existence.

I set up "stations" before

they arrived at my house.

Look how handy these sweet

chalkboard plates
(that my daughter-in-love made me)
 came in!

Station One:

Station Two:

Station Three:

This involves scissors & a hole punch

AND a paper cutter which the girls

are NOT ALLOWED to use.

I gave them a very sweet, gentle reminder

about "HANDS OFF" the slicer/dicer.

SweetCheeks said:

Yohu wouldn't do that enyways, Nana.

That is a stooopid sighn.

Hmmmm...That kid was smart even

when she was little.

Choosing materials each girl started

crafting. 

Thing One

Thing Two

And, last but not least,

Thing Three

How did everything turn out?

How much glitter was spilled in the process?

How many fingers were glued to eyeballs?

How many scraps of paper were

glued to the floor?

Maybe at some point

in the future when I

TRULY RECOVER

maybe all your pressing questions

will be answered.......maybe.....

This post will make SweetCheeks

smile as she continues to recover

from her surgery.

She is getting as spoiled today

as she was back then.

She is doing really well-

in some pain but is managing

it like a trooper.

HAVE A WONDERFUL

VALENTINE'S DAY
from our little 
Bright Eyes!

ps- please forgive the quality of those old pictures.

To tell the truth, I am not much better

at photography now.....

HAPPY GOLDEN BIRTHDAY LULU!!!!

Where has the time gone?

Weren't you a baby just yesterday?

You have always been such a sweet loving girl.

Here you are at Disney loving on Piglet.

I've always told everyone 

that they will never have to

wonder what you are thinking because

your eyes speak volumes.

You are growing up way too fast.

I can see the promise of the beauty

you are going to be as a woman.

You are such a wonderful big sister.

Kind and loving.

From little girl to 

being an awesome volleyball player

and then to 

Freshman Court last year!

Where has the time gone?

Don't grow up TOO fast, honey.

Enjoy this year of being 

FIFTEEN.

-Love you with all my heart-

Nana

ps. I'll be at the VA this morning

but thinking of you, Lulu!

A FEW POST-EASTER PICS---POST

We were lucky enough

to spend 

EASTER WEEKEND

with my daughter, Mimi and her sweet family.

MyHero took at least 75 pictures.

This was the closest he came to having

EVERYONE LOOK AT THE CAMERA 
and smile.
As you can see-
3 out of 5 made eye contact although
BigBoyE does not look too happy...

You know how there are bloopers?
We have at least FIFTY of pictures like this.
The kid in the dress is the goofball
that mugged for the camera.

I also have one picture
of three of my sweet grandgirls-

Look how big they are getting--
and SweetCheeks has glasses!

And their Mom, Tara---still beautiful---
shown here with her brother-
our youngest son...
fondly known as "Mama'sBoy"...

And here is his little guy..
flying off to see
Jack Sparrow @ Pirates of the Caribbean...
He was pretty excited when the
Captain asked him up to the front cabin
and let him sit in the pilot's seat.

No pictures of my oldest son
or his family.
Like me- he hates having his picture taken
so I only get pictures when his wife
shares them with me-lol....

For those of you brats that always ask
WHERE IS YOUR PICTURE
I say HERE YOU GO!

Next time I will brush my hair first....

Hope you all had a blessed Easter
and now we can move towards
Mother's Day!

This mama is off to the VA this morning
to mother a few veterans!

Have a wonderful Tuesday!

A QUICK UPDATE ON JOHN'S CANCER CHECKUP-

For those of you that missed

the update on 

FaceBook.

Just a quick note to say-

John is still cancer free.

He now goes from being scoped every 

FOUR weeks

to being scoped every

SIX weeks.

That is progress.

There is some concern that his 

THYROID is not functioning.

It is most likely damaged from 

all of the 

RADIATION.

But- Thyroids (or lack thereof)

can be regulated with meds.

That explains why he is 

SO EXHAUSTED

all of the time.

We were lucky enough to have our

LITTLE LULU

stay with us for four days

this past weekend.

She as as beautiful 

INSIDE as she is on the OUTSIDE.

We are blessed!

I am off to the VA 

this morning

and then coming home to pack for

a

LITTLE ADVENTURE.

I will fill you all in on that later!

FINISH IT UP FRIDAY-Really Random!

I WAS going to do a 

CHRISTMAS POST TODAY

but decided to clean up 

my picture files a bit.

LUCKY YOU!

You get to look at all this 

RANDOM CRAP STUFF

Some fall pictures of my daughter's kids-

BigBoyE, CharlesInCharge& BrightEyes

Can you tell who the 

GOOFBALL in that family is?

Hint- It's the oldest one!  lol

Looking for a cute little 

CHRISTMAS GIFT 

for a grandparent, godparent, mom or dad?

I stole borrowed them from the internet

but the TREE I spotted on 

AnnMarie-Musings of a Vintage Junkie's blog

Can I get a HAND for those ideas?
....nevermind....

Wouldn't those make cute memories?

My son was traveling for the week and my

daughter-in-love walked into the bedroom

and found our little CJK holding 

A NEWSPAPER CLIPPING

of him and his daddy 

taken a couple of years ago.

He was missing his Daddy and 

those wet spots are where his tears were

dropping onto the paper.

Doesn't that make you want to weep?

Look what a little CHUNKER he was! LOL

To comfort himself he sleeps with

HIS DADDY'S TEDDY BEAR

from when he was a little boy.

Not so chunky any more!

Speaking of CHUNKY!

Chunky peanut butter anyone?

This "little girl" is 14 now.

Look close-

That is not a SUNTAN on her legs!

She is going to kill me...

but she will probably wait until 

AFTER I buy her Christmas present.

She slathered herself with
PEANUT BUTTER
but refuses to eat at the
WAFFLE HOUSE
when we travel.
Her sisters make up for her.
We stop for waffles-

What do you want girls?
STEAK & EGGS...
Seriously---do I look like an
idiot-$15 for a 
WAFFLE HOUSE steak and eggs?
Milk is extra--
$50 later and we are on our way!
Maybe I won't get them a
Christmas present this year~

Speaking of Christmas presents

I will finish with this.

Yeah- You go right ahead and do that.

As for me---

I would be afraid of finding 

POISON in my COFFEE

if I did that!

I don't put

ANYTHING

past 

ANYONE

ANYMORE!

Have a wonderful weekend.

I will be back later with

some more

CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS

so -quit your whining!

Lulu's Homecoming & John's Upcoming Procedure Today

I can hardly believe that our sweet

LULU

is 14 years old.

She is in a brand new school this year

and there are no classmates from her

old school that attend there.

NEW Lutheran

is a Christian based school.

Although we are not Lutheran,

our two daughters graduated from there.

It was a wonderful school and so accepting

of kids from all different backgrounds.

It was such a great school that my daughter

wanted her daughter, Lulu,

to have the same wonderful experience 

she had there.

Lulu is just a bit shy so we were beyond thrilled

when she was voted on to 

HOMECOMING COURT!

Here she is with Mr.Z, 

right after they found out they were 

the freshmen voted on to court.

I don't know which one is cuter!

Here she is all gussied up 

and standing with her Papa.

He felt well enough to spend the 

early evening watching the presentation.

She and her best friend, Miss A,

posed sweetly for us.

Ouch!!!Wonder if those poles running through

their heads bothered them? 

Love the guy in the background

smiling away!

A bit later they had pictures taken by a

professional photographer.

I got a picture or two in while

they were posing...

It just made me smile to see Lulu & Mr. Z

standing together.

I think this is  her first boy/girl picture.
(well-the 2nd if you count the one on the field)

Parents/grandparents had to leave before 

the dance (unless you were a chaperon)

but we snuck one picture in before we

slunk out.

Anyone go to Catholic School Dances?

DO NOT MOVE YOUR HANDS

ONCE YOU HAVE PLACED 

THEM ON HER WAIST.

It was a wonderful night

but the next day it was back to

BUSINESS AS USUAL.

Lulu is a GREAT volleyball player!

She is the setter and a good server.

That wonderful picture was taken by 

Naomi.

Naomi used to be the girls' nanny 

when mom and dad were both working.

Umm....Hello....

That "kid" you used to take care of

is bigger than you are now.

Piling your hair up does NOT make you taller!

So--there you have it.

A FUN time for everyone.

Well ALMOST EVERYONE!

SOMEBODY just wanted to go home

and watch MICKEY MOUSE!

She's gonna kill me

Cheer up, Princess!

Your day will come-

Once again you will be 

QUEEN OF THE WORLD!!

You will always be 

Queen of the World in MY eyes!

MyHero goes in for his 7 month

after-treatment exam today.

They will scope his throat.

I offered to save him the money

and do the scope at home.

He didn't seem too responsive

to the idea.

He is SUCH a Spoil Sport!